My hope is to honor God with every brushstroke… to bring light to the world by expressing my Joy in The Light OF the World.

Kings and Queens

We teach these concepts and try to instill them in our children and grandchildren, but what about the kids out there who don’t have someone telling them how special they are? How important they are? How beautiful, smart, funny, loving, talented… Just because they exist.

The song in my head this morning has me thinking on these things. Audio Adrenaline’s song, Kings and Queens.

Boys become kings, girls will be queens
Wrapped in Your majesty
When we love, when we love the least of these
Then they will be brave and free
Shout Your name in victory
When we love, when we love the least of these
When we love the least of these

As a Christian, I am called to love the least of these. To be the hands and feet of Jesus. Like the song says, “if not us, who will be like Jesus to the least of these?”

I did not grow up feeling like a queen. I was raised in a time when complimenting your child, bragging on them, telling them how good they did or pretty they look may “give them the big head.” That’s southern for making them puffed up and proud. But as a result, I think, I’ve spent much of my life looking for the affirmation that I didn’t receive as a child. Most everything I put my mind to whether it’s relationships, cooking, music, my work, and even Bible study, I do to the best of my ability (most of the time). And mostly so others will notice. Validation. Affirmation. Positive strokes.

BUT, I was so blessed to learn about Jesus from my mom and dad, to grow up serving Jesus in my local church. I don’t have a moment I my life when I didn’t know who He is. He is everything to me. I grew up in a time where my needs were met… Plenty of food, shelter, clean water, clothes, shoes… I didn’t go without. When and how did we get to the place where every school in this country has more than it’s share of children who show up hungry on Monday morning because there was nothing to eat at home on the weekend?

I work on a residential campus where we see kids all winter without a coat or gloves or protective shoes. Every day, kids are pulled out of abusive situations and placed in foster homes, desperate for the baser things we take for granted.

Break our hearts once again
Help us to remember when
We were only children hoping for a friend
Won’t you look around
These are the lives that the world has forgotten
Waiting for doors of our hearts and our homes to open